The Barber of Uncivil

After coming across this story earlier this week, which was largely a Los Angeles matter, I wasn’t planning to write an article about it, but just post something perhaps on social media.  However, I came across a quote that added another perspective.
 
The background is that a couple of Los Angeles lawyers, John Barber and Jeffrey Ranen, had recently left their high-end law firm, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith (which has 1,600 attorneys and 55 offices across the U.S.), and took almost 140 lawyers with them to start their own firm last month with the two men being the name managing partners – Barber Ranen.
 
They claimed at the time that this was the largest law firm start-up in U.S. history, and proudly asserted didn’t leave behind “any baggage’ when departing the company they’d been at for two decades.  Their reason for leaving, they noted, was to “build something that’s reflective of our values and our beliefs.” 
 
But now, after only one month into operation, Barber and Ranen are out of their own law firm, which will be shutting down and reorganizing as a different entity.  All because of a barrage of virulently anti-Semitic, misogynistic, racist and homophobic emails between the two that have thus far been discovered at their old Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith firm.  The story isn’t over yet, though, since the old firm is now conducting a full investigation.
 
The few emails that have been released are pretty awful, although because – as I said – it was mainly a Los Angeles story, I didn’t know if it was something to write about.  Besides which, the two men had already left their firm, and it was being shut down, with the remaining attorneys creating a new structure.
 
But each news report I read only had a few details, and so I kept checking out other articles, trying to get more details,  And in the third one, I read across the quote that convinced me to write about it all.
 
The quote came in what John Barber wrote as a (for lack of a better term) joint apology statement, though was really more of a self-serving explanation.  The men said that they resigned in order "to allow our friends and colleagues to continue on without the cloud of our conduct hanging over them."
 
That was admittedly oh-so-thoughtful of the men, most-especially given how the concept of being thoughtful to others does not seem to have been a high priority for them in their lives.  He added that for the two partners, "The last 72 hours have been the most difficult of our lives, as we have had to acknowledge and reckon with those emails.

I can only imagine how difficult those 72 hours have been, never having had to deal with personally writing on ongoing stream of anti-Semitic, misogynistic, racist and homophobic emails, and then having them released publicly -- and to make matters worse, they "had" to acknowledge that the emails were real and reckon with that.
 
None of which was the quote that galled me, and made me decide to write this.  It was the next sentence, one that explained about the emails:
 
"They are not, in any way, reflections of the contents of our hearts, or our true values."
 
In fact, no, they are in every conceivable way reflections of the contents of their hearts, and of their true values. 
 
I know that in many attempts at “apologizing,” people say that a quip or off-handed comment they made do not reflect their values.  And sometimes, on occasion, that’s true.  But when true, that’s for something that was indeed a truly misguided slip, followed by a detailed, understanding apology.  However, this was not that.  I don’t think this even qualifies for consideration as an apology for the Apology Institute of America that Nell Minow and I created in our whimsy a few years back.  Because the story here is not about the lack of actual apology, but rather what was said at length over a long period of time.  And which was then followed by trying to flim-flam others that it wasn’t a reflection of the contents of their hearts, and of their true values.
 
I really didn’t want to repeat what Barber and Ranen continually wrote to one another, but to make clear the point here, it’s necessary.  Which, in turns, addresses a larger issue.
 
So, as just a small smattering of examples of some of their exchanges, the two mean wrote to one another over the course of at least a decade such things as –
 
                                                       *
 
In a June, 2012, when discussing a new hire at the company, Ranen referred to Barber as a “Jew” for owing him money.
 
That same month, Ranen complained about an employee working overtime who they’d have to pay more to, to which Barber responded, "Kill her," including a description of a violent sex act.
 
Also that year, after getting an invoice that had been submitted to the firm, Ramen told one of the then-partners at Lewis Brisbois, “This is the reason why people don’t like Jews.”
 
In a March 2014 email Ranen wrote to Barber, "This Jew is cracking me up," adding that when he has work questions, “I almost ONLY write to him on Saturday mornings,” the Jewish Sabbath. To which Barber responded, “Jew hater.” who quipped back, "Jew hater."
 
For a July 2014 email, Barber called Ranen a “Jew cunt” after Ranen had mentioned buying some bagels and cream cheese from Sam’s Bagels and bringing them to the office. 
 
When writing to a colleague in May, 2016, Ranen said he thought he’d be able able to get a lower price for a hotel room or office space. “I might be able to Jew them down,” he said.  (Ranen also complained about not being able to make fun of Jews. “Since when can we not make Jew jokes?”)
 
All the way back to March, 2008, Barber and Ranen had an email exchange that not only ridiculed a lawyer at the Mintz law firm who had served in the Israeli Defense Forces, but did so using a slur for gay men. 
 
In a March 2022 email provided by Lewis Brisbois, Barber — who led the firm's employment practice — said one Los Angeles County Superior Court judge likes being called "sugar tits."
 
And throughout the range of emails, Ranen and Barber used racial, sexist and homophobic slurs.
 
But I’ve saved the most telling for last.  That was when, in a Sept. 13, 2012 email, after Barber had brought up a person to bring into the company, Ranen sent back an addendum:  “I forgot to write that we will not hire Jews.”

                                                          * 
 
These are just a handful of the emails about which John Barber and Jeffrey Ranen say, "They are not, in any way, reflections of the contents of our hearts, or our true values."
 
There is no way that, over the course of at least 15 years, and probably 20, these emails can be anything but reflections of the contents of their hearts and their true values.  Not just mere reflections, either, but full-blown 3-D reproductions.
 
And these are just a few of the emails that the old Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith law firm released, as the result of an audit they made from a formal complaint.  As I noted, they are now doing a full investigation.
 
Given that when starting their new firm last month, Barber and Ranen said they didn’t leave “any baggage” behind and that they wanted “build something that’s reflective of our values and our beliefs.” Now seeing those values and beliefs in black-and-white, one can understand why they wanted to go, although it adds creepy new meaning to it all.

One other oddity in all this is how the two were able to keep this from the Powers That Be at Lewis Brisbois for so long -- 15 to 20 years.  But I guess if it almost exclusively transpired in their private emails between themselves and like minds, things can be hidden for years.  Perhaps it spilled over in a rare public comment or business email that got rebuked without knowing the extent.  Sort of like the captain of Titanic seeing a little bit of ice on the surface and saying, "Oh, we can avoid that..."  Or maybe some people knew, but felt it was containable, until it wasn't.  After all, the firm was massive -- 1,600 lawyers alone and 55 offices around the country -- and a lot of things are able to hide in the cracks.
 
By the way, an additionally odd thing related to this story which broke on Monday is that although I found articles on it in publications around the country – from Reuters, Bloomberg Law, the Daily Beast, RawStory, Forward, New York Post, ABA Journal and more – I can’t yet find any story about it in the Los Angeles Times, as I write in on Tuesday.

(UPDATE: The L.A. Times finally did write about it on Wednesday, two days after it became national news.
 
"They are not, in any way, reflections of the contents of our hearts, or our true values."
 
That’s the line. That’s what leaps out above all this hate and stands for so much racism, attacks on LGBTQ, smears on women and anti-Semitism.  That to this extreme right segment of the country -- far beyond just John Barber and Jeffrey Rosen -- it’s normal.  This isn't who we really are.  We may say these horrible things about these people, but it’s not who we believe.  (Yes, in fairness, many do believe it and say so, though they nonetheless insist they’re not racist or anti-Semitic or homophobic or misogynist.)  It doesn’t really reflect us.  We have good hearts.  It’s just a joke.  We didn’t really mean it.  It’s your fault because you’re “woke.” 
 
And so, it enables such people to turn a blind eye and ban books.  And ban abortion.  And eliminate teaching black history.  And refuse healthcare for transgender children.  And more and more and more.
 
Because it’s not in any way, reflections of the contents of what they want to believe is in their hearts, and their true values.
 
Except their hearts are overflowing with it.  And their values border on non-existent.